Two great movies on war in the past 24 hours. First a My Lai documentary on PBS, which was one of the heaviest pieces I’ve ever seen, bringing us through the events leading up to the worst civilian massacre of the Vietnam war and though its execution. Men who were there and involved with mass slaughter of 500 unarmed villagers explained, almost rationally, why they committed this atrocity, and a photographer presents his magnum opus of War’s Worst. In the heat of battle and under constant fire from invisible enemies, it is reasonable to expect men to lose their heads, and given that they are trained killers, murder would appear to be a perfect outlet for their fear and hate. But why were we asking these soldiers to ravage a village and why were their actions considered acceptable collateral damage for war? Nixon pardoned the only soldier to ever serve any time in prison (4 months) as a way of indicating that no one should be held accountable for this tragedy. There is no doubt that these men feel remorse and in retrospect understand their heinous actions, but they are forever insulated from repercussions by the excuse of war. True, they are not the only ones at fault and were basically just over-enthusiastically following orders, but if we have taught them that morality has no place in war, then we will never accomplish anything in our so-called “liberations”.
Vietnam is now a beautiful and friendly place to visit, as Alaina and I discovered on our honeymoon 5 years ago. It is hard to believe that 40 years ago we were napalming huge tracts of jungle and pillaging small villages. But alas, while peace dominates that country now, we have shifted our aggression to other areas of the world and are still contributing to violent deaths of innocent civilians. The Hurt Locker is an amazing Hollywood exploration of one man’s love of war and his duties on an EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) company in Iraq. He is fearless and slightly reckless in his actions, living on the edge of death precisely because it makes him feel alive in a way that nothing else in his life can. This film, like the My Lai documentary, forces the audience to sympathize with the soldiers and respect them for doing their job like any other. They kill people because it is their duty and in the hierarchy of the army, saying no is not an option. World peace will not be attained from soldiers refusing to kill (although I dream of this scenario…) but needs to be instigated on a policy level from the top down; I am sure that we could find something more peaceful and productive for this massive manpower to engage in if we finally came to terms with the infinite feedback loop of hate and violence that produces war and realized that no matter how powerful an army is, they will never establish true peace.